Cooper's Tavern

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When your hulking 12-ounce Pat LaFrieda burger comes plunged with a knife and the fries are served with a fork—which the chef refers to as “our toothpick”—it’s probably a tip: Toto, we ain’t in burger-slider territory no more. That’s the hearty battlecry at this modern American “tavern” at the newly refurbished New Yorker Hotel, whose meaterrific menu from chef Julian Clauss-Ehlers (Monkey Bar) hopes to jolt the barren culinary nether-zone around Madison Square Garden. The chef levies perfunctory carnivorous offerings (there are four types of steaks) with top-tier ingredients like Berkshire pork chops and those LaFrieda burgers, as well a few global touches: Clauss-Ehlers, who is British and once cooked at the now-defunct North African spot Zitoune, marries his culinary influences in dishes like fish-and-chips seasoned in sharmula, a classic Moroccan fish marinade, and served with vinegar.